Saturday, February 16, 2008 IProtect: The digital age challenge to copyright laws By Clint Fabiosa and Andrew Ong
Technological change affects copyright laws. The changes that are grabbing headlines today relate to digital technology and digital communications networks, such as the Internet and personal computers.
Like many innovations, these technologies are both promising and potentially harmful to various parties interested in the use and exploitation of these works. These include works of authorship from books and music to films and web pages.
The issues concerning the balance between these interests in relation to technological developments are overwhelming. They are considered new or unique in the laws concerning copyrights. However, governments have to deal with these because technological development is only one step in the journey of continual and successful adaptation that characterizes the history of copyright laws.
The revolution in the way new technology can reproduce, disseminate and store digital information, including copyrighted works, is truly a double-edged sword for authors and rights holders. On one hand, it can provide for new and exciting ways to provide copies of their works in inexpensive ways. On the other hand, it can make it easier for pirates to compete with the authors and distribute infringed copies of their work.
